Shadow's Christmas Carol
by The Dragon Legend
Summary: A Christmas Carol pardoy with Shadow! Plus, a Mall Cop pardoy subplot starring Silver!
1. Chapter 1

**Sappy Christmas story time! This story was inspired and influnced by SonicSong182's A Sonic Christmas Carol. I'm not trying to copy them.**

**I don't own the original Christmas Carol, Mall Cop, or the Sonic characters.**

Shadow's Christmas Carol

Chapter 1

T'was the night before Christmas and all throughout Mobius, people were filled with joy and holiday cheer.

And then there was Shadow.

He stomped down the street, glaring at anyone who so much as glanced in his direction. He wouldn't have been outside at all if Rouge hadn't dragged him out of his house to try and make him do some Christmas shopping. Key word: _try_. She gave up after he made the mall Santa wet his pants.

As he went along, Shadow grumbled to himself, "I swear, if I hear 'Merry Christmas' one more time, I'm going to explode!"

The street cleared out pretty quickly after that. Shadow was almost home and it seemed like he would get there without any more hassle.

But then Sonic showed up. He was full of holiday spirit and was distributing presents to all his friends.

Upon seeing Shadow, he ran up to him and yelled "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

Fortunately, Shadow did not explode with chaos blast. Instead, he punched Sonic in the face, causing him to fall into the street. Shadow continued on his way and left Sonic in the street. Sonic attempted to pull himself back together, but before he could, a car moving way above the speed limit shot around the corner and ran him over.

Shadow finally arrived back home, unaware of what happened outside. He glanced at a picture of a Christmas tree drawn in crayon. Before he could do anything else however, the doorbell rang. He opened the eye-level slot in his door and looked out, expecting Amy or someone to be there and demand an explanation as to why he hit Sonic. Instead, a blonde hedgehog stood on the other side of his door.

"What?" he demanded.

"Excuse me, but could you help me? I'm looking for-"

Shadow slammed the slot closed and leaned against the door, breathing heavily. That girl reminded him _way_ too much of Maria. Needing a distraction, he flopped down on his couch and turned on the TV.

He didn't find anything he was interested in watching, however. "Is there anything on besides these stupid Christmas specials?"

Then he heard sirens. Curious, he switched to the news channel.

"This is Mobian News, bringing you breaking news. Moments ago, world renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog was run over on Hilton Road. Let's go to Jerry live on the scene."

The picture changed to a Mobian lizard standing on the snowy street. In the background, medics were arranging Sonic on a stretcher.

"Thank you Bill. I'm here on the scene where Sonic the Hedgehog is about to be taken to Mobius General Hospital. I have with me the driver of the vehicle that hit Sonic. Sir what do you have to say for yourself?"

The camera panned to a panicked looking human. "I don't know! He was just lying in the street!"

Suddenly, the Chaotix appeared on camera. Vector strode forward and took the microphone from the startled reporter.

"There's a simple explanation. Sonic was attacked by one of Eggman's robots!"

Reclaiming his microphone, the lizard asked Vector, "But how? There's no sign of any robots."

"That is what we intend to find out. We are gonna go to Eggman's base and demand answers."

The Chaotix left and the ambulance drove away with Sonic. "Well there you have it. This is Jerry signing off!"

The news program ended and an extra cheery advertisement for Christmas trees came on. About ten seconds into the commercial, Shadow destroyed his TV with a chaos spear.


	2. Chapter 2

Shadow's Christmas Carol

Chapter 2

The mall on Christmas Eve was a madhouse. This is especially bad if you happen to work at the mall. Silver was working as a security guard to pay for his Christmas shopping. Silver was constantly getting knocked about and trampled by insane shoppers. Silver took shelter in the security office, desperate to get away from the maniacs.

Silver sat down, exhausted. "Being a security guard is hard. At least it's my last day."

The office chair was very soft, and Silver soon fell asleep. While he was sleeping, Scourge the Hedgehog and his Suppression Squad stormed into the mall.

"Alright, everybody out!" Scourge demanded. "Do as I say or else blondie here gets a makeover." He gestured with a knife towards Boomer, who had the blonde hedgehog from Shadow's house in his arms.  
>People started to flee the mall, not wanting to endanger themselves or the poor hedgehog. Suddenly, a fire ball exploded next to Scourge, knocking him to the floor. Blaze followed by Cream ran up to him.<p>

"Let her go and get lost" Blaze ordered.

"Get out of here you big meanies!" Cream added.

A whimper stopped them in their tracks. Boomer had a knife of his own and was pressing it against the golden hedgehog's throat.

"Move and she dies" He hissed.

Miles and Fiona stepped forward and grabbed hold of Blaze and Cream, tying them up and bringing the hostage count to three. By now the mall had emptied out, and the Suppression Squad was in charge.


	3. Chapter 3

**I forgot to say that this story was coauthored by my brother. Oh well. You know now. **

**This chapter might cause emotional whiplash. **

Shadow's Christmas Carol

Chapter 3

With nothing better to do, Shadow got ready for bed. As he was about to climb into bed, a strange white mist appeared in his room. The mist began to take shape and formed into the body of a human.

Shadow blinked in surprise. "Professor Gerald?"

"It's me Shadow. I have come to warn you."

"About what? Did you make a deal with another hostile alien race?"

"No, but there's going to be-"

"I don't care. Get out."

"But-"

"GET OUT!"

Gerald faded away muttering, "No one ever listens to the first ghost."

Shadow had just fallen asleep when a grandfather clock appeared out of nowhere and struck the hour.

Shadow woke up and glared at the clock."How did that even get here!?"

Just then, a red echidna appeared next to Shadow. "GAH! Knuckles, why are in my room?"

"I am not Knuckles. I am the Ghost of Christmas Past."

Shadow looked at the figure more closely, noting how he floated an inch off the floor and had a translucent body.

He still looked like Knuckles though.

The ghost grabbed Shadow's wrist and dragged him out of bed. "What are you doing?" Shadow demanded.

"I'm going to show you the past." There was a big flash of light, like a chaos control, then Shadow and the Ghost of Christmas Past appeared outside the ARK on Christmas Eve, fifty years ago.

"Where were you when I had amnesia?"

"It wasn't Christmas then. Now, look." The ghost pointed toward the ARK.

Through the window, Shadow could see himself and Maria. Past Shadow was decorating the plastic Christmas tree and Maria was coloring.

Shadow finished decorating and asked, "What do you want for Christmas, Maria?"

"I'd like to be able to see a real Christmas tree. What about you?"

"I want to see snow. It's supposed to be beautiful."

"We'll see those things someday Shadow. Until then, we have each other and this picture."

She showed him the picture she had just finished. It was crayon drawing showing herself and Shadow next to a Christmas tree covered in snow and colorful ornaments.

Maria gave the picture to Shadow. "Here, I want you to keep it."

Shadow accepted the picture and hugged Maria. "Thank you, Maria."

Maria just smiled and held Shadow close.

Present Shadow gazed upon the scene with longing, until the Ghost of Christmas Past spoke up.

"You were so happy back then, what happened?"

Shadow whipped around and glared at the ghost. "What happened? What _happened_!? GO FORWARD ONE DAY AND YOU'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENED!

One flash of light later, they appeared outside the ARK on Christmas Day. Recognizing what was about to happen, Shadow closed his eyes and covered his ears. He didn't want to relive this, but the sights and sounds found their way in anyway.

Running footsteps.

Shouting.

The gunshot.

The blood.

Himself making that stupid promise in the vain hope it would somehow make everything okay again.

When it was over, all the ghost could think to say was, "Oh."

Shadow kept his back turned to the ghost and spoke with a very stiff voice, "Now that you've reminded me why I hate Christmas, kindly take me back home."

The Ghost of Christmas Past did so, muttering, "I am so fired."

Shadow appeared back in his bed in the present time. After checking to make sure he was alone, he put his face into his pillow and screamed.


	4. Chapter 4

Shadow's Christmas Carol

Chapter 4

Silver woke up to a panicked chao tackling his face.

"AAAH!"

"Chao chao chao!"

Silver woke up enough to recognize the chao frantically tugging at him and pointing back into the mall.

"Cheese? What is it? Did you lose Cream?"

Cheese tugged on him even harder, almost lifting him off the floor. "Chao chao!"

"Okay! Calm down, we'll find her."

When Silver walked out the office with Cheese, he immediately noticed how quiet it was.

"Where did everybody go? It's not closing time yet."

Just then Silver spotted a hedgehog walking around. He ran up to him, yelling to get his attention. "Hey you! Do you know what's going on? Wait, you're that Scourge guy Sonic told me about!"

"A security guard? Seriously? I thought they were going to send a real hero." Scourge smirked at Silver. "Don't bother trying to stop me. I can signal my team to hurt the hostages at any time."

Silver gaped at him. "Hostages!?"

"Yeah, a little girl, a cute blonde, and a hot purple kitty."

Silver gasped, "you have princess Blaze!?"

Scourge's eyes lit up. "A princess? In that case, I'll be sure to ransom her, after I'm finished with her of course."

Silver growled at Scourge, "Don't you dare touch her!"

Scourge grinned devilishly. "Just what do you plan to do about it? You're just a loser security guard and I have hostages. Why don't you just get out of here before someone gets hurt?" Scourge turned and walked away, leaving a discouraged Silver.

Silver and Cheese retreated back to the security office. Silver was trying to think of a plan.

"I know, I'll call for help." He picked up the phone and dialed Sonic's number.

After a minute, Sonic's groggy voice came over the phone, "Hello?"

"Sonic! I need your help! The mall has been taken over by Scourge!"

"I'll be right t-"

Sonic's voice cut off as the phone was taken away from him.

A new voice came on the phone, "This is Dr. Quack. Sonic has been injured and can't leave the hospital. You're going to have to call someone else for help."

Dr. Quack hung up and Silver tried to think of someone else to call. He ended up calling the Chaotix.

Meanwhile, the Chaotix were interrogating Eggman in his not-so-secret base.

"Confess Eggman!" Vector boomed, "we know it was you that caused Sonic get run over and have to go to the hospital!"

"I already told you, I don't know what you're talking about!" Eggman yelled back.

Just then, Vector's cell phone started vibrating. "You boys keep grilling Eggman, I'll take this."

Vector walked a few steps away and answered his phone, "Chaotix Detective Agency, how may we help you?"

"Vector, this is Silver. Listen, the mall's been taken over by Scourge and he has hostages."

"We'll be right there Silver!" Vector hung up the phone and turned to his team. "Alright boys, we're going to the mall!"

"Yay! We're going to the mall," cheered Charmy.

"The mall?" asked Espio, "But what about Eggman?"

"Forget Eggman, this is an emergency!"

So the Chaotix took off and left Eggman alone.

"So Sonic's in the hospital huh?" he mused to himself, "Interesting."


	5. Chapter 5

Shadow's Christmas Carol

Chapter 5

Shadow was just starting to fall asleep again when the grandfather clock chimed again. Shadow jumped up, and found himself nose to nose with a yellow fox.

"What! Tails!?"

"I am not Tails. I am the Ghost of Christmas Present."

"I don't care! Get out of my house!"

"I will, but you're coming with me."

With that, the ghostly fox grabbed Shadow's wrist and flew out over the city.

"Where are you taking me?" Shadow demanded.

"I'm going to show you the effects of your actions today."

The first place they went to was Mobius General Hospital. Sonic was laying in a bed in one of the hospital's biggest rooms. One leg was in a cast, there were bandages wrapped around his head, and he had a black eye from Shadow punching him.

Sonic was complaining to the doctor, "But Silver needs my help!"

Dr. Quack shook his head at Sonic. "You're too hurt to help him. You're staying in bed until next week."

"Next week!?"

The Ghost of Christmas Present gestured to the scene. "You see the pain you caused Sonic? Not only can he not help his friend, but he's stuck in the hospital during Christmas."

"Am I supposed to care about that?"

The ghost glared at him.

"Sonic doesn't know the first thing about suffering because he always comes out on top. Oh sure he has rough patches, but that's just it: they're patches. They end. When he gets out of the hospital, he's going to go back to his happy little life of running around and everyone loving him."

Just then, Dr. Quack spoke up again, "Silver will be fine. He has powers of his own you know. Plus, your other friends are planning a big Christmas party for you tomorrow."

Sonic smiled a bit. "Thanks, that makes me feel a bit better."

Shadow glared at the ghost floating next to him. "I rest my case."

The Ghost of Christmas Present sighed. "Let's go somewhere else."

They flew over the city and arrived at the mall. They phased through the roof and found the blonde hedgehog that had knocked on Shadow's door tied up and being guarded by Fiona Fox.

The ghost pointed at her, "That is the girl you turned away. She has been kidnapped and is now being held hostage by the Suppression Squad."

Shadow snorted. "Is this what Silver's big emergency is? He's probably got help on the way already and she'll be freed in a couple hours. It's nothing I need to concern myself with."

"That's not the only problem she has. She is also homeless and has no memory. Sound familiar?"

"Lucky her. I wish I never remembered my past."

The Ghost of Christmas Present threw his hands up. "That's it. I give up. The Ghost of Christmas future will sort you out."

The ghost whisked Shadow back home, dumped him on his bed, and left.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Shake Shoppe is a real place and I don't own it.**

**I don't know why, but some of the reviews aren't appearing on here. They do show up in my email though, so I am seeing your kind words. **

Shadow's Christmas Carol

Chapter 6

When the Chaotix arrived at the mall, the place was surrounded by G.U.N. soldiers. The Chaotix approached Commander Tower to ask what was going on.

"It's a hostage situation. We can't get in without endangering the hostages. But apparently, there is a security guard running around in there."

"Oh that's Silver," Charmy told him, "he called us for help."

"Well you'd better call him back and tell him he's on his own."

"Okay!" Charmy grabbed Vector's cell phone and called Silver.

Silver answered, "Guys, are you here?"

"Yep, but we can't do anything so you're on your own." Charmy hung up and threw the phone at Vector, who just barely managed to catch it.

Silver sat in the office and tried to think of a plan. "Cheese, what am I gonna do? I know! I'll rescue the hostages undetected."

Silver left Cheese in his office and crept out into the mall. The Suppression Squad had split up into three groups, and each one had a hostage. Fiona and Alicia were guarding the blond hedgehog. They dragged her along as they traipsed from clothing store to clothing store; raiding the cash registers and grabbing a few choice outfits.

When Silver caught up to them, he used his power to fling clothes in his enemies' faces. He then quickly grabbed the imprisoned hedgehog and ran all the way back to the security office.

"Are you okay? What's your name?" he asked her.

"Yes and… I don't know." She looked away from him, embarrassed at not knowing her own name.

"Um, we'll work on that later. For now just stay here." Silver left the office to continue his mission.

Miles and Boomer had Cream and were raiding the electronics shops. They got so caught up in one of the video games that Silver was able to sneak in, grab Cream, and sneak out without being noticed.

Back at the security office, Cream and Cheese were happily reunited.

"Cheese!"

"Chao!"

The Suppression Squad gathered in the food court. Scourge noticed the others didn't have their hostages.

"Where are your prisoners?"

Miles answered, "We don't know; they just disappeared."

"HOW COULD YOU LOOSE THEM!?" Scourge hollered, "you're lucky we still have one hostage left."

"Where did you put her?" Fiona asked, looking around.

Scourge smirked. "In there," he pointed to an ice cream place called the Shake Shoppe, "I locked her in the freezer."

Silver was hiding nearby, listening to the conversation. He activated his powers, and buried the Suppression Squad under a flood of tables. He then ran to the freezer Blaze was trapped in and yanked the door open. Blaze was curled up and shivering on the floor. Silver scooped her up in his arms and ran just as the Scourge got free of the tables.

Silver was forced to start flying in order to stay ahead of Scourge. He threw benches and potted plants back at Scourge but just dodged or spin dashed through them. Silver then realized he had freed all the hostages. He used his powers to dial Vector.

As soon as Vector picked up Silver yelled "I freed all the hostages!"

Immediately, both G.U.N. and the Chaotix stormed into the mall. Overwhelmed by sheer numbers, the Suppression Squad was quickly arrested. The G.U.N. soldiers carted them away, and the Chaotix met up with Silver and the freed hostages in the security office.

"So you really don't know who you are?" Espio asked the blonde hedgehog.

"No I don't," she confirmed

Vector stepped forward and said, "Well, lucky for you, we're detectives!"

"Is there anything you can remember?" Espio asked, ready to write down what she said.

"Well I had a friend… he's a hedgehog and… that's it," she finished, frustrated at not being able to remember more.

"Maybe your friend is Mr. Sonic," Cream suggested.

"Sonic does have a lot of friends," Espio conceded.

"And I got a text from Tails saying there's gonna be a Christmas party for Sonic at the hospital tomorrow!" Charmy announced, waving Vector's cell phone.

"Hey, give that back!" Vector yelled swiping his phone back.

"Do you have anywhere to stay?" Blaze asked.

The blonde shook her head.

"Then you can stay with me tonight, and I'll take you to the party tomorrow. Even if he doesn't know you, you can at least have a good Christmas with us."

"Thank you so much!"

"Now that everything's settled," Silver said, "let's go home."

Everyone started to troop out of the office, but Blaze grabbed Silver's arm, preventing him from leaving.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I never got a chance to thank you," Blaze said.

"Blaze, you don't have to thank-"

Blaze cut him off by kissing his cheek, then walked out of the office, leaving Silver blushing madly.


	7. Chapter 7

Shadow's Christmas Carol

Chapter 7

Shadow couldn't sleep. The grandfather clock that appeared out of nowhere had chimed and startled him a third time so he smashed it. The third ghost hadn't shown up yet so he gathered up what was left of the clock and used it to build a fire in the fireplace.

He looked back at the crayon drawing Maria had given him. He picked it up, and crushed it in his fist; suddenly angry. A _picture_ couldn't replace Maria. A _picture_ won't bring her back. Shadow threw the crumpled picture into the fire.

Suddenly, the flames tripled in size, engulfing the entire fireplace. A dark, robed figure appeared in the flames and stepped forward, only to be punched in the face. The figure's hood slipped down, revealing,

"Silver!" Shadow yelled.

"Ow!" the figure yelped, "I'm not Silver! I'm the Ghost of Christmas Future, and you totally ruined my dramatic entrance!"

"If you're a ghost, how did I hit you?"

"Who told you that you can't hit ghosts? Now come on, I have to show you the future."

"Fine, just get it over with already."

With a chaos control-like flash of light they traveled to the future. The future was dark, desolate, and there was artwork depicting Eggman everywhere.

Shadow looked at his surroundings and remarked, "Let me guess, Eggman took over the world?"

The ghost nodded. "Yeah. See, he attacked Sonic at his Christmas party and-"

Shadow interrupted, "And he caught Sonic by surprise and robotized all his friends, blah blah blah. What happened to me?"

"Well, you were the last one standing. You fought back pretty well for a while, but you couldn't last forever all by yourself and now you're buried over there." The Ghost of Christmas Future pointed to a gravestone sitting on a nearby hill.

Shadow thought about this for a minute. "You know what? I'm okay with this."

"Wait, WHAT!?"

"I imagined the future turning out a lot worse."

"But, but, you're DEAD!"

"Well living isn't all that great, besides, I go out in a blaze of glory."

The silver ghost started to panic. "No! You're not supposed to be okay with this! The Ghost of Christmas Future isn't supposed to fail! There's gotta be some way to change your mind! Um… just give me a minute, I'll think of something!"

Shadow ignored him and wandered over to his gravestone. There was something about it that was bothering him. Why was it there? There wasn't anyone left who cared about him enough to set up a gravestone for him. He got close enough to read the inscription. It was only four words:

SAYANORA SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG


	8. Chapter 8

Shadow's Christmas Carol

Chapter 8

Shadow couldn't figure it out. Who had made this gravestone? Footsteps sounded behind him and turned to see the blonde girl from before.

Shadow was surprised. "Her again? Why is she here?"

She approached the gravestone and set down a white rose. Softly, she whispered, "If only I had known it was you that day."

Forgetting that she couldn't hear him, Shadow asked, "What day? The day you showed up on my doorstep?"

She continued, "Maybe we could have prevented this, and maybe we could have been friends again, like we were so long ago."

Now Shadow was really confused. "What is she talking about? The first I saw her was when she showed up at my door. Unless she's… no. That's impossible. There's no way she's-"

"MARIA ROTBONIK!"

Dr. Eggman arrived on the scene in a gilded egg-mobile. He was wearing a crown and expensive looking robes.

He glared down at Maria and demanded, "What are you doing here?"

"I was visiting Shadow."

Eggman snorted. "Again? How can you be a proper heir to the Eggman Empire if you're crying over Shadow all the time? Robots! Take her back to her room so she can learn how to rule with an iron fist!"

Two robots grabbed Maria and dragged her away with Eggman following. Shadow just there, trying to pull the pieces of his exploded brain back together. Suddenly, one thing became clear: _He had to get back to the present._

He ran back to the ghost. "Silver!"

"I told you my name's not-"

"Whatever! Just take me back!"

"But-"

"NOW!"

"Okay!"

Shadow jolted awake. He was in his bed, and late morning sunlight shone through the window. He bolted outside and saw Silver flying past. Shadow teleported in front of Silver, starling him and causing him to fall.

Shadow picked him up by the chest fur shook him, yelling, "Silver! Have you seen a blonde hedgehog in a blue dress?"

"Yes I have! Please put me down!"

Shadow dropped him. "Where is she?"

"Blaze took her to Sonic's Christmas party."

"Christmas party?"

"Yeah. See, Sonic got run over so he's in the hospital and we're throwing him a big Christmas party to help him feel better."

Shadow wasn't listening. He had just come to a terrible realization.

Eggman would attack today.

Meanwhile at the hospital, the Christmas party was already in full swing. Everyone was there. The Freedom Fighters, the Chaotix, Team Rose, Team Dark minus Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles.

Blaze came in with Marine and the golden hedgehog Silver had rescued. Marine went to talk to the other kids and Blaze approached Sonic.

Sonic grinned up at her. "Merry Christmas, Blaze. I thought Silver was coming with you?"

"Merry Christmas, Sonic. Silver's running late. Anyway, I need to ask you something. Do you know this girl?"

"Sorry, I didn't see you there! No, I've never seen her before. Why?"

"The only thing she can remember about herself is that she had a hedgehog friend."

"Another amnesiac huh? Well, don't worry; we'll get your memory back. For now, just relax and have fun. Enjoy the party!"

Before she could respond, the room's outside wall was ripped away, reveling Eggman in his upgraded Death Egg Robot.

"Merry Christmas, Sonic!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, or followed. Special thanks to JohnnyFootball for adding me to his/her favorite authors list. I feel so honored. Enjoy the last chapter and have a Merry Christmas!**

Shadow's Christmas Carol

Chapter 9

Sonic immediately leapt forward to attack, but ended up crashing to the floor instead. Knuckles, Blaze and Omega attacked, but could not damage the robot.

Eggman laughed at them. "Oh ho ho ho! Even your most powerful attacks cannot penetrate my robot's new Megatel armor."

They tried. Almost everyone in the room attacked the robot but failed to even make a dent. Eggman just sat and laughed at them until he noticed something.

He reached forward and picked up the blonde hedgehog, lifting her up so he could a closer look at her. "A new rodent friend, eh? You remind me of my late cousin. Tell you what, after I've taken over the world, I'll keep you around as a pet or something. The rest of you, prepare to die!"

Just then, there was a big flash of green light. The light faded to reveal Shadow the Hedgehog. Everyone shouted out in surprise, but Shadow had eyes for only one person.

"MARIA! Let her go!"

"Shadow! What are you doing here!? Never mind, it won't make any difference. My Death Egg Robot's new armor is completely impenetrable."

Shadow took off his inhibitor rings and launched a barrage of super powerful chaos spears. They did nothing. Eggmen just sat and waited for Shadow to wear himself out. Without his inhibitor rings, it wasn't going to take very long. Shadow stopped throwing chaos spears and tried to think of another way to attack. He glared hatefully up at Eggman's smug, triumphant face… and got an idea.

"Chaos control!"

Shadow disappeared from the wreaked hospital room and reappeared in Eggman's cockpit! Eggman just managed throw himself out of the way of a spindash. He scrambled into the escape pod in the back of the robot and blasted himself away. In the Death Egg Robot, alarms started blaring.

A robotic voice announced, "Self destruct in ten seconds."

"Chaos control!"

The robot, Shadow, and Maria all vanished. Ten seconds later, an explosion sounded in the distance and Shadow reappeared with Maria in his arms.

Shadow put her down and asked, "'Are you okay?" She nodded. "That's… good."

With that, Shadow collapsed.

When Shadow started to wake up, he wondered if everything that had happened was just a crazy dream. The idea alone caused him to feel crushing disappointment. When he opened his eyes, however, he saw _her_.

He was in a hospital bed. Maria was the only other person in the room.

"Are you okay, Shadow?"

"That depends, are you really my Maria?"

"My memories are really fuzzy, but I remember you. I remember playing and looking down at Mobius. I remember that I wanted to see a Christmas tree, and you wanted to see snow."

Shadow burst into tears and hugged Maria tight. "It is you! I missed you so much! Maria, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Shadow, take it easy! It's okay, it's okay." Maria hugged him tight and reasured him that all was forgiven.

After Shadow calmed down, they walked to the Christmas party, which had been moved to a different room, hand in hand.

When they entered the room Sonic called out, "Hey Shads, are you actually smiling for once?"

Shadow approached Sonic. "Uh… sorry for hitting you."

"Forget about it. Where'd you teleport the robot to?"

"Eggman's base."

Everyone burst out laughing, even Shadow because for the first time in over fifty years, he was truly happy.

The End


End file.
